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Vitamins and Herbs

Posted by szozu - Created: 16 years ago

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After the enormous variety, not to mention quality, of supplements sold in the U.S., I am finding slim pickings here in Cannes. I've checked out a few vitamin shops (they seem to all specialize in weight loss!) and my local "bio" where I've found a rather limited selection of Solgar products at a very high price and a few Euro brands that have not exactly instilled me with confidence. For instance; I found selenium labels marked in mg instead of mcg, which would be a toxic dose--typo or cluelessness? Another example is zinc not being marked as to how many mg of elemental zinc are contained in say, 50 mg of zinc citrate or zinc gluconate. Since I use supplements for therapeutic reasons, this is not acceptable.

I've been ordering on-line from some U.K. companies, but they don't have a particularly good range either. It's impossible to order from the U.S. as there is a danger of everything being seized by customs, according to a French friend who has tried it.

Anyone have any ideas?

Lana

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Posted by lulu-183463 - 16 years ago

hello. have you tried the pharmacies? they have a selection of vitamins etc. and if they don't have what you're looking for, they can custom order it for you. good luck. L

Posted by Admin-179828 - 16 years ago

eileenm: That may well be your e-Mail address, but e-Mails to it arebouncing.

Please stop the bouncing (your mailbox is full - clear it out) or put a different, working address in your AngloINFO profile (click on My Profile on the main Forum menu bar while logged in).

Posted by Dougal-187530 - 16 years ago

That'll be why French women are usually the slimmer ones then!

Posted by szozu - 16 years ago

Local brands do not inspire confidence. I once picked up a Belgian brand of selenium where the contents were expressed in mg. instead of mcg. Big difference!

Anyway, the big market here is for quacky slimming products, not vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

Lana

Posted by Dougal-187530 - 16 years ago

Perhaps it's just that the French eat so much better and healthier than their English and American counterparts and don't need all these vitamins, supplments and whatnot to improve their health? Just a thought.......

And by the way, I think you'll find that most of the products you HAVE managed to track down are foreign, hence the price......by the way, try some of the other bio shops in the region, there are some with more choice.

How do you tell the quality of a vitamin pill please? Obviously there is no comparison between true vitamins and synthetic ones, but I am interested to know what it is about American supplements that make them superior.

Posted by eileenm - 16 years ago

Hi Lana,

I've just moved 3 weeks ago, and Im discovering the same problem with vitamins and herbal stuff not being able to get through french mail customs. I guess my two options are to mail to a friend in Britain, and go get it. Or have visitors bring it with them. Did you solve the problem any other way ? There really seems to be very little in the way of supplements around France. And there is often added ingredients I dont want or vague lables.